


These Changes Ain't Changing Me

by Sam_Haine



Category: Avengers (Comics), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Nazi Germany, Bucky Barnes & Steve Rogers Friendship, Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Smut, Gods, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Magic, Medical Experimentation, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Outer Space, Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Smut, Steve Rogers Feels
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-08
Updated: 2019-01-15
Packaged: 2019-10-06 18:04:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17349995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sam_Haine/pseuds/Sam_Haine
Summary: Steve gets captured by an enemy he's faced before. Tony realizes some things about himself he never knew before. The Avengers are all in a tight spot after their Captain gets taken down so easily and treacherously.





	1. Scary

**Author's Note:**

> This story manifested out of a night of drunken thoughts and shisha smoke... It can only get crazier from here...

Chapter One- Scary 

 

_"Cap, what's your status?"_

_"Cap?"_

_"Steve!"_

_"Dammit Rogers..."_

The sound of booming explosions sounded virtually harmless within the confines of his Iron Man suit. Tony checked the digital screen in front of him, noting the slight abrasions to his armor. 

"JARVIS, what's my peripherals look like?" 

The robotic but familiar voice responded almost immediately. "Preparing scanners within a hundred mile radius." 

It took only a few seconds for the scan to be completed. 

"There are seventeen enemy bots approaching from the southwestern front of the fort." 

Tony nodded sharply, locking sights on Clint and Natasha on the ground below. Barton wielded his bow as quickly and efficiently as Tony created machines. It was a thing of beauty to witness as both assassins became surrounded by the unknown robots. Natasha brandished her bayonet swiftly, a powerful growl escaping her throat as she tore through two of the bots without hesitation. 

Not less than two feet away, Thor and Banner were creating their own storm. The Hulk's monstrous roars pierced through the friction-filled air while Thor's strikes of lightning permeated the place with the smell of ozone. Beside him, War Machine was all business, his guns out, firing off rounds of missiles per second. 

"Yeah these things are startin' to piss me off." Clint said dryly. 

"You're not the only one." Natasha quipped. 

"Who're they with though? I can't pick up a signature in their encryption." Rhodey reported promptly, ever the battle-ready Colonel. 

Tony grunted, evading a bullet to the side. "Copy that. Alright, I'm gonna-" 

Thor's panicked voice cuts through Tony's earpiece. 

"The Captain is in the building! I repeat, Captain Rogers is in there Anthony! Hold your fire!" 

Another second and the Captain would have been toasted in a controlled explosion rigged by Tony's brilliant mind. 

"Shit!" Tony curses, his hazel brown eyes glaring hard at the stone fort several feet below him. 

"Why's he in there?" Natasha demands, her voice muffled and inaudible by the sound of crunching metal. 

"He was taken!" Thor responds with a vicious snarl. 

"Cap, come in!" Tony yells, his anxiety rising by the continuance of static silence on Steve's side of the radio waves. 

The birthplace of the enemy robots had been sourced from somewhere deep within the fort, they'd found out from an earlier report by Agent Hill. Fury had been tracking their progress as a team over the course of six weeks since they'd taken down Loki, Thor's demented younger brother, and he'd decided that they were ready for a team project once more. Only, they had no idea who was controlling the bots or why they suddenly decided to attack the city. Tony figured it had something to do with the Avengers and an angry, disgruntled government man. 

A pissed off voice patches in through his frequency.

"What's the problem Stark? Blow the goddamn place up already!" Fury demands. 

"Yeah, can't do that Fury. Cap's in there." 

"How the hell-!" 

"I'm gonna get him out, don't lose your cool Fury." 

"How the hell did he even get inside in the first place?!" 

_"He was taken!"_ Thor repeats for the second time in a row. 

"Agent Hill didn't pick up any life form or human activity in there. How the hell is that possible?" 

"They must be using some kind of elusive technology." Thor suggests, hammering a robot in the jaw. 

"Pointbreak's right. My scanners aren't picking up any signs of life either. The fort is most likely protected by a very specific forcefield. JARVIS, gimme a closer look at this." 

"The fort is protected by layers of an unknown light source that emits magnetized rays to prevent any type of transparency to the technologically advanced eye. Specifically, _Stark tech_." 

Tony does a double take at that, a bit soured but equally impressed at the fact that someone had created a tech powerful enough to stop _his_ tech in its tracks. He loved a challenge, but... no, right now the challenge was getting Steve Rogers out of the fort alive and in one piece.

"Cap, come in!" He called again and growled frustratedly at the useless static he received. 

_"Th- ...-wall To- ..."_

It isn't much- hell, it wasn't even a fully formed syllable, but Tony takes it and grabs it by the reins. And so does the rest of the team. They rendezvous in the middle of the compound, covered in grease and dirt and blood and much more but seem otherwise on high alert for Steve. 

"Steven-!" Tony calls out before he realises what he's said but thankfully, the rest of the team are too worried to call him out on it. 

"The longer we wait here, the Captain's chances of getting out grow slimmer. I shall retrieve him." Thor booms thunderously, his blue eyes flashing with impatience. 

"No!" Tony growled, holding a hand out. "We go in together." 

The Hulk grunts from behind them and Tony rolls his eyes. 

"Except you big guy. You can be the reinforcements if we need you to tear this place down."

"And we will." Natasha says, her eyes hooded and her jaw flexed. Cap had become one of her close friends and the idea of him being hurt or worse is infuriating. 

"Okay Avengers, assem-!" 

Clint is halted by all the Avengers staring at him with a dry, unimpressed look. 

"What? Oh so it's okay for Tony to say it a _bajillion times_ but I can't even say it once?" 

"Nope." Natasha replies, chucking him an apologetic grin. 

"Perhaps it is not the right time, Agent Barton." Thor suggests, not unkindly as he also looked confused. 

"Yeah," Tony scoffed, "and we haven't even found a way to get in. JARVIS, scan the compound for a break in."

Hawkeye hangs his head in frustration. "Aw man. Every time." 

"Scan complete, sir. There seems to be a plating of aluminium on the corner of the Eastern wall front. It is much thinner than the titanium steel surrounding the entire fort." JARVIS confirms efficiently before adding, "I assume once inside, it will be much easier to pick up the Captain's heat signal." 

Tony nods trying to ignore the slight ticking in his chest at the thought of Steve hurt or dying. 

"Got it Jarv. Avengers, assemble!" 

Clint's reaction equates to that of a teasing tongue and a scrunching of his nose in irritation. 

 

..................

 

This enemy had to have been one of the most powerful he'd ever faced, Steve thinks to himself, lying straight and prone on what feels like some kind of operating table. His arms and legs are bound with some kind of wire that burns his skin with every twist and turn he makes. The cold metal is smooth and icy against his naked back, a gash on his injured shoulder oozing blood onto the surface. His vision was starting to get blurry from the blood loss but his own stubbornness and will kept him awake. His stealth trousers are still on, thankfully, but he feels like a mere specimen under glaring overhead lights with his chest all bare and exposed. 

"The walls Tony!" He screams again into the air, hoping to God that Tony's reception isn't as bad as his. He can barely hear anything or anyone inside the fort; wherever they had taken him, it must have been underground. He blinks hard a few times to sharpen his vision, quickly committing the layout of the room to memory. 

It was dark, save for the blinding white light that hung over him like some kind of ominous, ironic angel. There were several operating tables in the room, all silver and all vacant. It didn't seem unused and the room appeared way too clean to have been abandoned as the sign on the chain link fence surrounding the compound had said. Various medical and mechanical equipment stayed strewn all over the white marble countertops, some sterile while others were encrusted with a suspicious substance. 

It looked like blood. 

"Stark! Nat!" He calls again but sinks in disappointment when he receives nothing but eerie static. 

"They cannot hear you, _Captain."_

The familiar voice freezes him in his tracks and he barely has the time to parse out the irony of that phrase before the bane of his previous existence materializes from behind the blinding white light. 

_The Red Skull._

"It must be quite a shock, Rogers. To see me alive and well after all these years." Schmidt jeers mockingly, running a cold, pale hand against his naked chest. His body twitches under the attention and he tries to flinch away from the touch. 

"You're not real. Yo- ...you're a ghost." Steve hisses through gritted teeth, pulling hard against his restraints, only hurting himself further. A whine of agony escapes him as the wire slices into his wrists and rubs back and forth. 

"Incorrect. I _became_ a ghost. Time and it's unrelenting power made me obscure in my absence but perhaps it also gave me the time I needed. I should be thankful." Schmidt comments, vague and aloof as if he were conversing about the weather with passing interest. His face is still as grotesque as Steve had remembered it, bones prominent and flesh as red as the Nazi blood that flowed through him. His eyes were black and blown out, giving him the appearance of a monster or an alien. 

"What happened to you?" Steve demanded, trying to buy time for the other Avengers. He knew they were looking for him, and knowing Tony, he was probably using his tech to locate him. The longer he kept Schmidt distracted, the better.

"When the Tesseract activated, I thought I had been dead for good. I spent days, months, _years_ adrift, simply floating through a wormhole that never seemed to have an end. In my time of purgatory, I thought of the things I wanted... the plans that had stopped because of your interference. And then suddenly, I was _there."_

Steve's blue eyes trace the length of Schmidt's arm from where it was reaching into a silver cabinet. He hears the sound of clinking glasses and metal, dread coursing through him as a needle filled with a rusty red liquid comes forth. 

"Wh- ...where?" He stutters but it comes out as a statement rather than a question. 

"Vhormir." The Red Skull answers simply, tapping careful knuckles against the glass vial. 

"It is not as far a place from Earth as many think. In fact, it is quite close to us, within the relative scheme of things." 

Steve frowns hard, working the restraints again but to no avail. The sharp wire just cuts deeper into his wrists. Schmidt chuckles darkly as he looks down at him, reveling at the sight of the righteous Captain squirming like a worm on a hook. His fleshy face scrunches up in glee. 

"My time on Vhormir has taught me many lessons. For eons I sat in wait, nothing but _you_ on my mind. You and the dismal state of the world. But, alas, HYDRA shall be returned to its former glory once more." 

"That's too bad Skull. I took down what was left of HYDRA a few weeks ago. There's nothing left for you to salvage here." Steve grunts, panting harshly as Schmidt clamps a heavy hand down on his forehead. 

"Perhaps, Captain. But there are many other mortal men who would give their _left hand_ to see the great Captain America defeated." The villain confides almost indulgently, brandishing his needle like some kind of dagger. That particular jab is meant to hurt and Steve knows it. He'd seen what was left of his best friend, and he knew that HYDRA had been the culprit behind Bucky being manipulated into becoming the winter soldier. The fact that Skull knew however, meant that Schmidt had returned to Earth longer than Steve had originally thought...

And that he'd been watching him all this time.

The needle point was at his neck now, prodding firmly against his soft skin. He swallowed, feeling the pressure of it. 

"What's in the needle?" 

Schmidt's eyes light up indulgently as he taps at the vial again, stirring the red liquid. 

"I'd like to think of it as a gift from the Gods. I spent years, parsing out all the sources of power in space and time, trying and failing to create the serum that made you so _special-"_

"Well, looks like you took the phrase, 'I can do this all day' to another level pal." Steve interrupts, grinning cheekily up at the Skull. He thinks that Bucky would've been proud of him for that line. 

Schmidt glares down at him but then blinks away his rage. 

"Make a mockery of me all you want, it will not change the fact that I have returned. And my vision _will_ be executed once more." 

The corner of Steve's mouth pulls in a tight and grim smile, his blue eyes hard and cold. 

"You're wrong about this new world, Skull. Back then, there was just me against you. Now, there's an entire team of good people who will avenge this Earth. So go ahead and kill me... I've been waiting to die ever since I got off that train anyway." 

The cocksure composure of Schmidt falters a little, but it's just enough for Steve to realise he'd dented the man's perfect plan before it even started. It's a small victory but he enjoys it anyway, thinking back to the time when he only had Peggy to rely on. She'd been enough then, but he feels even greater pride in the friends he'd been able to make in this new age-

"Move any closer and this arrow goes straight through your skull... _Skull."_

Tony rolls his eyes so hard, even the suit looked like it was unimpressed as he hovered above the ground, palms facing the Red Skull. 

"I give you one chance to do the dramatic entrance and _that's_ what you come up with?" He deadpans at Clint who visibly wilts under Natasha's stare. 

"Ha- _ha!"_ Thor crows, wielding Mjolnir whilst grinning at Steve. "Alas! We have located the Captain!" 

Even if Steve could help it, he wouldn't have stopped the stupid grin from forming on his face. _Of course_ they would swoop in to save him just in the nick of time. He'd never been one for cheap thrills or entertaining stupidity but for some reason, he thoroughly enjoyed the Avengers and their almost childish antics. It felt refreshing and familiar. 

"Ah, Captain Rogers is saved just in time by his little band of _miscreants."_ Schmidt sneers nastily, surrendering the needle from Steve's neck and holding both hands up in the air. 

"That's right skull-face, it's all over." Tony replies, tossing Steve a wink and a smart grin. 

"Is it?" Schmidt challenges, needle still held tight in his grip. 

"I see that Captain Rogers has once again been able to make friends out of the people he will soon come to use as his pawns. I am certain history will repeat itself once more, and you will all suffer the consequences of allying yourselves with this man." 

"Save it you Nazi bastard." Natasha shoots back sounding almost bored with Schmidt's speech. 

Skull snorts. "Perhaps it is not a truth you wish to hear, but it is a truth all the same. Comrades, friends and lovers fall around him while he seems to walk away just fine with only a few scratches. He is selling you a dream which he cannot fulfil himself. Just ask _Sergeant Barnes._ " 

Steve visibly flinches at that and suddenly, he isn't so confident. Suddenly, he's listening to every word Schmidt spits, painstakingly taking each one to heart. Because hey- ...wasn't he right? Ever since he was born he'd been a right burden to all the people around him. His own mother suffered til the day she died because of his constant ailments. He'd been a pain in the U.S Army's ass after Dr Erskine was killed and all he could do was be a show-pony for a hungry business man who forced him to fake-punch Hitler in the face while real soldiers were being killed in Europe fighting the actual battle. And let's not forget his greatest sacrifice of all; Bucky, his sweet, caring friend who'd been tortured and experimented on, who died on that train trying to protect _him._

All the while, Steve had remained a symbol of American freedom; a hero who was seemingly untainted, unscratched and pure. 

_God, he hated himself right now._

"That's enough, bone-man." Thor growls, "Surrender yourself or face Mjolnir's wrath!"

There's an evil chuckle that follows. 

That should have been warning enough. 

_"Certainly."_

Schmidt obliges but it's too late. He plunges the needle straight into Steve's neck. The super soldier yells out in surprise, feeling the red liquid gush into his stream. Chaos ensues not a minute later, Stark firing his repulsors, sending Skull crashing into the steel wall. His laugh is menacing in the dark room, like a ghost as he escapes Natasha's bullets and Clint's arrows. Tony searches for a sign of the man but he's suddenly no longer in the room. 

"JARVIS, gimme a scan. Now!" 

"Scanning, sir." 

It's futile. The building is empty. 

_"Steve!"_

_"Tony!"_

_"Snap out of it goddammit!"_

_"Tony!"_

"Hey! Help me with this!" Natasha's snarling at him, trying desperately to free a panting Steve from his bonds. He's drenched in sweat and his face is scrunched up in agony. That's about all it takes for Tony to wake up, immediately working to destroy Steve's bindings. 

"I shall follow the Skull's trail!" Thor declares, swinging Mjolnir before she propels him out of sight. 

"I'll mobilize the big guy." Clint says as if it's all common protocol and Tony's never been more grateful for his nonchalance. It's what kept him grounded and sane on most days. 

"We need to get him to the medical bay. Dr Cho would know what to do." Nat states sharply, her green eyes never leaving Steve's. His eyes however, are staring straight up at the ceiling, glazed over and wet. His chest is heaving and his spine twists with every convulsion that wracks through his body. Whatever was in the vial that Skull injected him with, was _meant_ to hurt.

"C'mon Rogers, get a grip." Tony mumbles mostly to himself as he removes the last of the bindings. Steve's arms immediately shoot up in the air, grasping for something he can't quite reach. It's pain; and it's the desperation of not knowing what's going on with him that's got him frightened beyond words. 

And it scares Tony. 

"It- it's okay Cap, I've got- Steve, hold on-!" He pleads, pulling the super-soldier closer to him. Through the metal suit he can't feel the warmth of Steve's body but thankfully, JARVIS promptly informs him of his suit's surface temperature... and it's worrying. 

"Surface temperature is one hundred and four sir, and climbing."

"Shit." Tony growls under his breath, powering up his suit. The metal face clanks over his face, eyes alight with digital coordinates and warnings. Steve's burning up. 

"I'll get the goons and round up Fury. SHIELD's got every known file on Skull." Natasha informs him, her green eyes trained on Steve. Her jaw is set and she's got a glint in her eyes that just sends off warning signs. Steve had become one of her closest friends and confidant. To see him writhing in pain, taken down by his very own arch nemesis, was triggering to say the least. 

"Copy that." Tony replies curtly, his grip on Steve tight.


	2. Climax

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The clock is ticking. Will Steve be okay? Will Tony be okay?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Great responses to the first chapter. Hope y'all like the rest.

Chapter Two- Climax

 

"Where is Dr Banner?" Dr Cho demands, her face creased and wrinkled with worry. 

"Bruce is gonna be here in a few. Helen, how is he?" Tony shoots back sharply, his hazel brown eyes hooded from being awake for fourteen hours straight. 

"He's still in pain but we've been able to sedate him temporarily. His nervous system is basically in cryo-freeze right now." She replies evenly, eyes tracing the way Tony paces the room back and forth. 

" _Tony,_ he will be fine as soon as Dr Banner gets here. I've been trying my best to flush the injection from his system but it's like a parasite. It's clinging to his system much too quickly. The chemical-" 

"What is it?" Tony interrupts.

"The chemical is unknown. It's molecular composition isn't readable on _any_ of my scanners and it doesn't seem to be responding to any of the extracting agents. The only thing that seems certain is that it's- ...it's alien." 

Tony freezes. "Alien?" 

"Yes. It consists an element that could only be explained by extraterrestrial means. I've seen something similar in Thor when he had his routine bug-check a few weeks ago." 

Behind her, the chamber housing Steve rattles with energy. Tony can feel his hackles raise.

"Element? What d'you mean element? Like an actual, measurable-"

Dr Cho nods sharply. "It's what I'd like to call, _the God Element._ Very rare, very unique and, not from Earth."

Tony's interest peaks despite himself and he can't help the stupid beginning of a grin on his face at the doctor. 

He's impressed.

"The _God Element?"_

She rolls her eyes at him, unamused and laser focused on the job at hand. 

"I've only ever seen it in Thor so, that's why I called it that. The point is, that at least six grams of that unknown element is running through Captain Rogers' veins right now and the longer it remains inside of him... the less chances he has of making it through." 

He doesn't mean to be imposing but his eyes instantly flash at the doctor, warningly. He can feel the lines harden on his face and the way his jaw ticks at the thought of Steve dying on _his_ watch. Hell, the thought of Steve dying _at all_ was terrifying. He swallows the lump in his throat and turns away from her, the nanotech suit bleeding away to reveal his civilian wear. 

"He'll be fine once Bruce gets here. I've already got JARVIS scanning every active network on the web for activity on the Skull. Natasha's working on SHIELD's Intel on Schmidt and Thor and Clint are following the bastard's trail." 

Dr Cho sighs quietly but nods anyway. 

"How is it poss-" 

"Tony, Helen." Bruce interrupts, looking all business in his lab coat and glasses. He's got a clipboard in hand as if he'd already been in the lab doing readings on Steve's vitals. 

Tony and Dr Cho frown. "Were you in there all this time?" 

Bruce shoots him a look and then replies, "There's a secret backdoor. I happen to know it." 

Tony screws up his nose and raises an unimpressed brow at his friend. "Really?" 

"Yep. But, back to the topic of Steve..."

"Can I see him?" Tony asks, _way_ too intently. Thankfully, Bruce doesn't condescend him. 

"We can't, he's in the chamber. We'll get a read out of his progress though. Come on." 

They all enter the lab with a bit of trepidation and uncertainty. It's quiet in there; _eerily_ so, that it gives Tony totally unimaginary chills. He's not used to being worried about Steve like this. Usually, the blonde is always okay... never one to complain or make a big deal out of being troubled or hurt. He was the sort of steady, consistent constant that kept the team together. Now- 

...now... it just felt... shattered.

The titanium tank hisses with the air pressure slowly being let out and let in to it. Several digital pages plunge the dimmed room into a neon blue haze. Each screen displays reports of measurements, coordinates and assessment summaries on the events currently taking place inside the cylinder. Steve's in there of course, out cold and unaware of what was happening to his body. And from the outside; things weren't much clearer. 

"His DNA seems to maintain their genetic makeup. No changes noted there." Dr Cho reports, gently sliding her fingers on the holographic screens to scroll upwards. 

Bruce shakes his head however, pointing to the screen closer to him. 

"You're right, these are _his_ biological markers. But what about these?" He questions, not condescending but rather hopeful that both Tony and Helen would realize the point he's trying to make. He watches as their eyes scan over the blue monitors, passing over the almost glowing green line of fluid passing through Steve's bloodstream. 

Tony frowns and points to Dr Cho. "That's your _'God Element'_ Helen." 

Helen's eyes flicker with recognition and slight irritation at Tony's teasing as she nods. "It is."

Bruce shrugs, "Call it what you want; God Element, evil juice, Gamma radiation-" 

"What- _hold up_ , where are you going with this Bruce?" Tony demands, suddenly all business and no nonsense. He almost chokes on his words, "Are you saying that Cap has _Gamma_ radiation flowing through him?" 

Bruce swallows but nods anyway, fixing the glasses that's perched just on the tip of his nose. 

"I'd recognize those signatures anywhere. Whatever was in that needle, was _meant_ to hurt Steve. Skull's probably been working on that serum for years." 

Tony's about to flip the nearest piece of furniture before he takes a second to reign in his anger and fear and remind himself that it isn't his lab he's in. His eyes shutter closed for a few minutes, allowing him to think back to the mission, just before Steve got captured by Schmidt... before everything went to hell. Steve had been excited and focused as usual for whatever task had been set before them. Tony remembers being contented with Cap in the lead, driving their enemies back further and further into defeat. 

_God, they thought they had everything... didn't they?_

Dr Cho shakes her head, the gears in her mind grinding. "Worst case scenario suggests that Schmidt's element would reverse the effects of the super-soldier serum. Why would Skull spend all that time creating something that wouldn't kill Steve rather than create something to actually kill him or make himself stronger?" 

Banner shrugs. "Weak Steve means strong Schmidt." 

It's as good a guess as any but Tony shakes his head angrily. "It's not rocket science. This is what villains do; they damage and destroy and kill because it suits their fancy. Skull was planning this for years. It was only a matter of time before he caught on to us... before he caught on to Steve." 

The three scientists stand in a circle, their eyes hooded by heavy brows and clouded with worry. It almost feels like a standstill, all parties involved thinking of some way to save their teammate. One out of the three carried a heavier burden- as he always did- wishing upon wish that this was all a terrible nightmare and that daylight would come soon. But the logical, more moronic part of him refused to become entrapped in that illusion. He _knew_ that this was real. And he _knew_ that somehow, this was all his fault. He shouldn't have let Steve in that building- he should've said something when the blonde promised that he'd be fine... he just should've known what to do!

_"I'll be fine Tony. This isn't my first rodeo._

God, he hoped that _that_ hadn't been the last time he would see those cerulean blue eyes again. 

 

.....................

 

He blinked several times in a futile attempt to wake up from whatever horrible dream he was currently immersed in. 

_This couldn't be real..._

The sky above was as grey and gloomy as the dark and dirty brick houses that lined the cluttered streets of Brooklyn. Birds cawed ominously as they flew overhead, like a bad omen of the things to come. Somehow he felt as if he knew exactly how things were going to pan out for them both. 

_Them..._

He wasn't alone; he had to keep reminding himself. There was a young man sitting on a dusty porch, newspaper in pale hands that he somehow knew were warm and kind. 

_Like he'd felt them before..._

The man was fitted smoothly in full military uniform, his dark, slicked back hair concealed underneath an army green beret. He wore a mischievious smirk on soft, pink lips... and he wore it well. His jaw was almost as if it had been cut from pure white marble, with a grayish quality that reminded him of the early days... when things weren't so complex. 

_He knew this man..._

Those wolfish blue eyes haunted him wherever he went it seemed. And that face... _oh the heartache that came with its mere memory!_ But the name- the name always seemed to touch the tip of his tongue before fluttering away like an insignificant snowflake plummeting to the snowy ground from a great height. 

_"Hey punk."_

The man spoke, his voice nothing but a soft caress against his ear. He knew this man! Said man suddenly got to his feet and he quickly took a step closer out of reflex. Why did he trust the man so readily? 

"Wh- ...who are you?" He asks and his own voice sounds foreign to him.

 _"Aw, c'mon Stevie. Has it really been so long pal? Have you already forgotten me?"_

He's still having a cage match inside his head to remember the man's name but in the outside he shakes his head frantically. "No!" 

It's really important that this man never feels as if he's forgotten him.

"You- you know my name." 

The man chuckles again but his face remains ominous. 

_"Man, time has really passed hasn't it?"_

"Who are you? T- tell me, please." 

_"I'm glad you've moved on buddy. Wouldn't have wanted to see you moping about by yourself. You've gotten yourself some good friends. A better life."_

The man's voice becomes wistful at once; almost sad and melancholic and for some reason that hurts Steve to his core. Because he's one hundred percent certain that he'd never forget someone so... impressionable. Like this man was supposed to be with him every step of the way. 

"Buck- ...Bucky?" 

The name hits him like a bolt of fire and suddenly he sees the light. His memories come crashing into his head like water after the floodgates open. Or when a dam breaks. It's intense and he desperately reaches out for help. 

"Bucky!" 

But suddenly, the man isn't there anymore. 

He's vanished into thin air and all that remains is Steve's memory of his smile. 

_"Bucky! Help me-!"_

 

.........................

 

"Heart beat is two-twenty over one-eighty and climbing!" 

"Bruce-!"

"Hold on!" 

"He's going into cardiac arrest! His pulse is out of control!" 

"Bruce goddammit- get him out of there!" 

"I can't Tony! If we do that, Steve has no chance of surviving those chemicals running through his veins!"

"He isn't doing much better in your Wonder Boy machine either Banner!" Tony growls, glaring fiercely into the horizontal canister currently housing a spasming Steve Rogers. 

"It's not a Wonder Boy machine!" 

Their observations had gone on for two hours without much activity or excitement until Steve's heart beat on the monitor began increasing exponentially without stopping. Dr Cho's scanners had picked up much activity within Steve's brain during the same time so she assumed that both events were related. But now wasn't the time for theories- they had to put the supersoldier to sleep- _literally_ before he gave himself an involuntary heart attack. In his unconscious state, it would be easier to assess his symptoms. 

But Steve isn't calming down. 

His screams are shrill, echoing from inside the tube he's in, tearing at Tony's ears. He's actually panicking because Steve's in very real, tangible danger and there's nothing he can do to stop whatever's happening to him. Bruce is adjusting whatever he can to the IV's connected to Steve's system and Helen is tapping away at her monitors, fluorescent blue, green and red waves spiking against a black screen everytime Steve cries out in agony. 

She freezes in her tracks for a scary second before rigidly turning to Bruce. 

"Tony's right. We need to get him out of the canister. Whatever he's feeling right now, is being triggered by neurological activity. The serum has induced a very real nightmare in his mind, and it seems to be doing tangible harm to his physical and mental state. We need to wake him up Bruce!"

Bruce grits his teeth, too unsure about the situation but trusting in both Helen and Tony's gut instinct. Pulling the plug on the canister would mean allowing Skull's serum free range all over Steve's entire system but it would also save him from burning himself up from within. With his heart rate increasing so alarmingly, it would kill him faster than any serum would. 

Banner nods rigidly. "Okay, Tony?" 

The billionaire doesn't wait another second before forcefully cracking the canister open, hacking and yanking at whatever wires and tubes were in his way with his iron arm. He didn't bother activating the entire suit, much too focused on getting Steve out of there. Thick white smoke escapes from the canister with a fizzing hiss, hitting Tony square in the face. It burns his eyes and makes them water but he refuses to back away. He reaches into the canister, unsure of what he's going to be grabbing but still hoping against hope that Steve is still in one piece. The blonde's piercing screams had gradually downgraded to mournful cries and groans, Dr Cho noting the correlations between the sounds of distress and the brain wave activity on her monitor. 

"He's waking up." She warns Tony, cautiously observing from a distance.

Bruce tries his best to brush the thick white smoke out of the way in order to see clearer. The anticipation builds as Tony reaches further into the canister only to frown in disappointment when he feels nothing. 

"Steve?" He calls, giving Bruce a perplexed brow raise. Bruce matches his look of confusion, approaching the canister gingerly. 

When the smoke clears, their confusion turns into sheer disbelief. 

_"What the hell?"_ Both Bruce and Dr Cho exclaim in unison. 

This is quite possibly the first time Tony Stark has ever been rendered _completely speechless._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the kudos and the comments. Much love, Sam Haine.


	3. Bad Liar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team gets some bad news...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did y'all see the Spiderman FFH trailer??!! Omg it's awesome.

Chapter Three- Bad Liar 

 

It's ironic, how badly Steve just wants to be absorbed into the bright white light above him when he damn well knows that that's the first rule of _not dying-_ not going into the light. 

His own breathless gasps infiltrate his ear, oxygen struggling to save his body as the fire engulfs his very being. _He can't breathe!_ He's closed in by thick walls that look weaker than they actually are. His arms can't spread wide in the small space he's trapped inside and it's severely upsetting. His spine pops when another wave of agony rips through him, causing his back to jackknife in a sharp curve. The back of his head smashes into the translucent plasma floor under him. It doesn't crack but instead sends a lancing pain straight through his skull. 

_"Bucky!"_

The voice sounds somehow abstract and disjointed to his ears. He's acutely aware of his own parched lips opening but the sounds from them are muted. His body spasms again and he cries out loud- the bones in his body morphing with sickening crackles and pops. His hands pound desperately at the bright white light above him, begging for an out. He's never felt so weak and helpless before- not in years!

 _"Help me! Buck- please!"_

"What the hell?" 

He hears more voices, albeit they're all muffled and alien to his ears. But they're there. And he doesn't know if they mean we'll or if they're the ones doing this to him. All he knows is that he's in agonizing pain and that it won't stop. His fingers clench hard around a clump of soft fabric that he only just realizes are covering him. It feels like a warm blanket so he clings to it- ...uses it like some kind of comforter. For the first time in a long time, he feels _scared._

_"It hurts..."_ He's sure it's his voice this time and it sounds like a mournful cry. Wetness drips along his cheeks before sliding down the side of his face. A blurred face suddenly zooms into his line of sight and he almost recognizes it but then he feels a small prick in his neck before his lids fall closed, shutting out any kind of light and leaving him in bare darkness. 

_Everything hurts._

 

***

 

Tony's not quite sure about the last time he was ever rendered speechless- probably when Pepper told him she was gonna quit, but he didn't take her seriously when she said it so... he's not sure how that counts but- ... _this_ was pretty damn close to shutting him up for good. 

He knows they've all been standing there for the past twenty minutes or so, with their mouths hanging open and their eyes riveted to the opened canister before them. But he can't seem to shake himself out of the reverie that suddenly has him in a steel grip. The _thing_ lying on the canister's bed currently unconscious and unawares was... _Steve Rogers._ It's crazy to think that this tiny, almost skeletal creature lying in front of him was the once powerful Captain America but Tony isn't delusional. Hell, he'd grown up in the guy's shadow, never escaping the way Howard always shoved old videos and books about the amazing Steve Rogers in his face. So he really _shouldn't_ be shocked by this right now but somehow, seeing Steve like this when he'd only ever known him in his post-serum phase was... _disorienting_ to say the least. 

"T- ...Tony?" Bruce chokes, his voice unsure and almost delicate as if he was legitimately scared. Tony could vouch for that feeling, because... _did they just kill Captain America?_

Steve lied unconscious before them, practically drowning in his once well-fitted suit, a sharp, bony shoulder peeking over the neck of the uniform. The red, blue and white suit almost looked like an oversized onesie, Tony surmised, cautiously reaching out a hand to brush Steve's sweat-slicked hair out of his face. His cheeks were sunken in severely, making his cheekbones more prominent. Lips that were usually plump and red were now pale pink and lifeless. Steve's skin lost its creamy complexion and was just ashen... as if he were dead. His body was shrunken down to about ten times his usual size, leaving him looking even tinier than _Peter Parker._

And Peter was a pretty lanky kid. 

"Is he...?" Dr Cho couldn't find it in her heart to finish the question. The situation could only be described as surreal. Like a cursed image that was never meant to see the light of day but somehow did. She felt sick, knowing that she'd just spoken to the man a few hours ago, before their mission. And now, here he was, pale and unmoving with his long lashes plastered to his cheeks, looking like a mannequin. 

"No." Tony answers way too quickly but he ignores her gaze in favour of approaching the canister gingerly. His fingers reverently graze upon Steve's forehead, noting the warm temperature there. He brushes the suit further down the blonde's body before pressing a curious ear to his chest. He almost gasps in relief when he hears a very faint and rattling heartbeat. 

"He's still breathing!"

Bruce rushes up to them without hesitation and presses a stethoscope to Steve's chest. After a few agonizing seconds he nods sharply at Dr Cho. 

"We're gonna need a ventilator. Get me some saline drips and an IV. Tony?" 

 

Tony nods almost immediately and accesses JARVIS. "I need the entire C-34 floor cleared and on lockdown. Get me Director Fury and the rest of the Avengers here, deep covers." 

"Yes sir." 

"How are we gonna get him out of here without anyone noticing?" Bruce worries. "He needs to be hooked up soon before it's too late." 

"Leave it to me." Tony replies, barely looking up from his wrist communicator as he contacts Happy. 

Bruce nods, moving briskly over to Cho. "Take whatever you need, my lab is yours for however long it takes." 

She nods fiercely. "Got it." 

"Happy's on his way. I'll get Rogers to Avengers Tower." Tony confirms, grabbing his leathered trench from the rack. 

"Helen and I will follow." Bruce responds, casting an empathetic look toward Steve. 

He helps Tony get the fragile blonde into the coat, despising the way Steve's body just seems to bend and fold from their handling. His head drops back onto Tony's shoulder and Bruce can swear he's never seen the man look so tortured in his life before. It feels like a sick child he's holding in his arms and Tony's not quite sure what to think about that. But he doesn't lose his grip on Rogers, even as his phone gives a chime to notify a new message. 

"JARVIS." 

"Happy is in the private parking lot sir." JARVIS confirms efficiently. 

Tony rushes out of there like a bat out of hell. 

 

.....................

 

"Trail's gone cold. _Dammit._ " Clint curses under his breath as Thor lands with a thunderous rumble, Mjolnir clutched tightly in his hand. The assassin jumps down from his perch atop a pine tree branch, fixing his bow back into its harness. 

"It's as if the Red Skull has simply vanished into thin air." The Asgardian King surmises, his clear blue eyes haunted but bright with the thrill of the chase. 

"We're gonna need to do some reconnaissance. Maybe there was something we missed." Clint murmurs, pulling up a digital grid map of the area. They were in a stretch of forested lands that were dense and thickly covered by a canopy of pine trees. The air was cold and frigid, and the lighting was awful due to the overcast sky. Overhead, the sound of crows and jackdaws echoed eerily, masking any other sounds nearby. 

Thor keeps an eye out while Clint toggles with the glowing map. 

"This entire area is surrounded by dead-ends. There's a river to the east, overgrowth from where an old safehouse used to exist westward, back from the way we came is just forest and right ahead is... a waterfall." 

Thor acknowledges the assassin's layout of their current situation. "Perhaps this is just a trap then?" 

Clint shakes his head. "Skull's had his eye on Cap. He doesn't want anyone else. He made that pretty clear back at that HYDRA base." 

"Then perhaps the Skull has obtained extra-terrestrial power from his time in the expanse of Space." Thor suggests, his eyes following the sleek, black profile of a jackdaw as it zooms past them. Clint shoots him a tentative glance before his communicator zings to life. A nano-second later, so does Thor's. 

Clint frowns. "It's JARVIS. They want us back at Avengers Tower. Now." 

Thor's frown deepens. "I hope that it is not related in any way to the Captain but I fear that my hope may be in vain." 

"When do we ever get what we want, huh?" Clint mutters. 

 

*

Back at SHIELD'S base, Natasha finds herself becoming increasingly impatient with the lack of records on Johann Schmidt. Of course, her short temper could also be the result of her worrying about Steve with every passing second that Stark doesn't equip her with an update. Fury was still dealing with damage control after HYDRA had practically imploded on itself and then _exploded_ on everyone else. And Maria Hill was debriefing the press on what the situation was at the moment. 

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing on the Skull." She growls, slamming a fist down on the table. 

"Someone wiped the digital data files on Schmidt right when everything blew up. Everything from 1935 right up to 1943 is gone. I'm guessing it was one of the HYDRA goons." Sharon Carter supplies, holstering her gun and setting down a large ring of keys that had been clutched in her hands. 

Natasha nods, defeated. "Clint just gave me an update. He and Thor followed Schmidt all the way to Rosewood Reserve before the trail went cold."

Sharon frowns. "So they've got nothing?" 

The assassin shakes her head. "It's like he was never here. The public can't know that he's back." 

"It's okay. Maria's just informing them of what happened with HYDRA. All parties involved who actually know that Schmidt's back have been notified and are being questioned by Fury. I have to join him in a few minutes."

"Are we keeping them in here?" 

Sharon nods, albeit a bit regretfully. "Right now, SHIELDs the only place fully equipped to efficiently contain them." 

Natasha nods. "Any of them high ranking agents?" 

"Most of them are just techies and analysts. There is one HYDRA agent though, he's being kept in a separate cell." Sharon replies, bringing up a live digital camera recording of the man in question. He was angrily pacing the cell he was locked in, kicking at nothing in particular. 

"Brock Rumlow. Senator Pearce's right hand man." Natasha reveals to Sharon, her green eyes tracing the way he's favoring his left side. 

"I'm gonna need a few minutes wi-"

The blaring ring from her communicator cuts her off and she has half a mind to silence it before realising that it was JARVIS. 

"I've got to head back to the Tower." She announces. "I'll be back as soon as possible. Rumlow may know a thing or two about where Schmidt's at." 

"Got it." Sharon affirms with a sharp nod. 

 

...................

 

"Where is he?"

"Is he okay?" 

_"Is he dead?"_

That was Clint- probably the only one brave enough to say the damn words. His question silences the room however, and Tony's never been more grateful. He's nervous as hell, palms sweating as he stands before the group in their conference room. Rhodey is by his side, thankfully keeping him from just running the hell out of there. Bruce and Cho are there as well, albeit standing far off to the side so that he could have the floor. 

"Tony." Natasha says simply, her voice resolute but not urgent or demanding. He's thankful for her considerations but it doesn't stop him from flinching as she says his name. It feels like an impossible task; standing before his teammates, head down, hands stashed in his pockets. Usually he has everything under control- on the surface at least- but right now, everything just feels way to open, exposed and _raw._ He can still feel Steve's fragile body clinging to him as he carried him in his arms. 

_I'm shaking- fuck,_ he thinks quietly to himself. 

"Okay," he coughs awkwardly, clapping his hands together to release some of his nerves. "I know we're all here to get the latest update on the Captain but first, I need to know what's going on with Skull." His eyes rivet to Thor and Clint who grunt with slight impatience. 

"C'mon man, really?" Clint grumbles, not petulantly but Tony can tell he's serious this time. He stands his ground though and awaits the assassin's appraisal of his mission. 

"Rosewood Reserve is the last place we tracked Skull to. He disappeared soon after that. Like a ghost... like he never existed." 

Thor nods, standing beside the archer with his massive arms folded. "I scoured the forests twice to ensure that no mistakes had been made on our side. It's just as Agent Barton explained; the Skull has vanished." 

Tony mulls over the information in his head and on his tongue, hating the way _the Skull has vanished_ tastes on his tongue. Steve was not safe as long as Schmidt was still out there, roaming wild and free. 

"And Steve?" Natasha grunts, interrupting his thoughts. He frowns slightly at her but concedes, having kept the team in suspense for long enough already. 

"Okay. As far as we can tell, the serum was not meant to kill Rogers. He's on level C- 34, Room forty-eight. At the moment, his condition is stable and he's hooked up to an IV. That's the good news." 

The team frowns just as Nick Fury sweeps into the room, slipping his phone into his leathered trench coat. 

"And what's the bad news?" 

Tony scrunches up his lips at the Director, rolling his eyes dramatically. The pressure was on now.

"Good of you to join us, Fury." He tries to stall but the grave frown Nick shoots him is enough to force him to make a different call. 

"Fine. The bad news; the serum has forced Steve back into his previous physical form." 

The silence he's met with is somewhat expected. Everyone just seems shocked and in disbelief- even Thor. Fury has his one eye closed momentarily as if he was expecting Tony's announcement and it's scary to be honest. Usually _nothing_ fazed the great and ruthless Director. 

"Wait- ... _what?"_

Natasha's outburst is a new one, Tony has to admit and he desperately glances at Bruce and Cho for assistance. 

Banner quickly comes to his rescue. 

"Ah, that means that Steve has reverted into his pre-serum form. We're not sure if that means that all his physical deficiencies have returned. This early on is hard to determine but, I'm eighty-five percent sure that that's what Skull wanted. A weak Steve means, a- ...a strong Red Skull." 

Dr Cho nods. "We're running tests right now on the progress of the anti-serum. So far, extraction has been unsuccessful and we have not been able to determine exactly what kind of chemical is in the serum." 

"She's calling it the _God element."_ Tony adds unhelpfully. 

The uncomfortable silence meeting them back from the team is as distressing as it was expected. Like a rough wave crashing and battering the shoreline, disrupting its soft sands. Tony can feel the eyes of his teammates scanning him and it makes the back of his neck prickle uncomfortably. It's his fault, _he knows that-_ but it's still, as always, a tough pill to swallow. 

Despite his many jabs and verbal sparring with the man, Tony always felt some kind of connection to the Captain. Of course, it could have also been his pathetic way to feel as if he meant something when compared to the great symbol of America. His dad always told him that there was no one greater or more righteous than Steve Rogers. Spoke of him as if he were a God... as if he matched up with the likes of _Thor_. And Tony would listen carefully- without resentment- as a kid, amazed by the stories. Until one day he finally realized Howard's true intentions. The man was disillusioned by his memories and it soon became more of him wanting Tony to be _like Cap_. It wasn't just a story, but a rule-book to live by. And to die by. 

And so his resentment grew. 

He never expected that those feelings would come back to haunt him when they uncovered Steve under the ice. But life was _fucked up_ like that. And now... now he couldn't help but feel sorry for the man. This was _his_ team. And they were his family. How could he have been so stupid? Why did he even let Steve go into that goddamned building by himself? Steve said he'd be fine- _fuck it-_ of course he'd say that! 

_Should've known... should've done better._

Tony leaves the conference room with his head low, heart in his goddamn designer shoes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed   
> P.S some things might seem OOC but that's ok.


End file.
